The Baltimore Orioles’ Buck Showalter and the Washington Nationals’ Davey Johnson are Sporting News’ 2012 AL and NL Managers of the Year, respectively, as selected by a panel of 17 major league managers.

Both Beltway teams made surprising runs to the postseason before eventually bowing out in the LDS round.

Buck Showalter led the Orioles to their first winning season in 15 years. (AP Photo)

Showalter turned a 93-loss team from 2011 into a 93-win team in 2012, ending the franchise’s infamous streak of 14 consecutive losing seasons. He did it with a rotation that used 12 starters and had only one double-digit winner. He did it with a lineup that featured two in-season free-agent pickups (Nate McLouth, Lew Ford) playing prominent roles because of injuries to starters. And he did it with a third baseman playing first base (Mark Reynolds), a first baseman playing right field (Chris Davis) and a 20-year-old rookie shortstop playing third base (Manny Machado).

It is only fitting that then that Showalter defer to his team and staff.

“It’s quite an honor coming from my peers, but I view this as a team award. I really do. The players, coaches and everyone involved made this possible,” he says.

Showalter began to change the culture when he took over as manager in August of 2010, but the rise to contender status this season shocked just about everyone—except the Orioles.

“Every player back in spring training believed we could be successful. We have some injuries along the way, we had some bumps in the road, but everyone does over 162 games. We never turned it into a woe-is-me situation. We played through it,” Showalter says. “Some people said we were lucky, and we probably were at times. But there are no Cinderellas in baseball, there are too many games for that. Now comes the hard part—you have to build on this season and improve.”

Across town, Johnson not only delivered the Nationals’ first winning record since the team relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2005, he led the team to a major-league best 98 wins during the regular season.

And like Showalter, Johnson wasn’t surprised by his team’s success. In fact, he boldly proclaimed in spring training that he should be fired if the Nationals failed to reach the postseason. That never was a concern, as Washington had sole possession of first place in the NL East from June 5 until the end of the regular season.

Johnson accomplished it all thanks to a dominant rotation and bullpen, and a lineup that was able to overcome extended absences by outfielders Mike Morse and Jayson Werth, third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and shortstop Ian Desmond. Johnson also did a masterful job with 19-year-old outfield phenom Bryce Harper.

“To be recognized by my fellow comrades, a particularly accomplished bunch, makes this award especially meaningful. I send my thanks to them and the folks at Sporting News, as well as the Lerner family and Mike Rizzo for giving me the opportunity to manage such a special, talented group of men. To put on the uniform every day and compete is an honor I never take for granted,” Johnson says.